ACN senators to oppose oil subsidy removal

The Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Babajide Omoworare has declared that senators elected on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, will continue to fight against the move by President Goodluck Jonathan to remove oil subsidy.
Also, Senator Babafemi Ojudu yesterday called on the Nigerian workers and the Civil Society groups in the country to resist the proposed fuel subsidy removal by the federal government.
Omoworare who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character said the decision of the ACN senators was born out of their determination to be on the side of the masses and also ensure welfarist policies and programmes by federal government.
Delivering a lecture entitled “Checks and Balances: Nigeria in Search of Credible and Sustainable Election” to mark the 2011 pen week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, OSBC, chapel in Osogbo, Senator Omoworare stressed the need for all Nigerians to stand against the move to remove oil subsidy, saying time is not ripe for such development in Nigeria.

Alleged Independence Day Bombers, Charles Okah And Nwabueze, Complain Of Inhuman Treatment In Kuje Prison

Charles Okah and Obi Nwabueze, who were arraigned in October 2010 for alleged involvement in last year’s the Independence Day bombing in Abuja, have warned the Comptroller-General of Prisons over the harsh and inhuman treatment they are enduring in Kuje Prisons.
In a petition filed today by Ogbenovo Otemu and Matthew Omonade on behalf of Festus Keyamo Chambers, the lawyers alerted the Comptroller-General of impending legal consequences if he fails or neglects to redress the injustice to their clients in his custody.
The complaint said that that unlike other suspects awaiting trial, Okah and Nwabueze are being kept in solitary confinement. “They are deprived from worshiping God like other inmates in the worship center, they are not allowed to participate in sporting activities and when their wives and relatives visit them, they are not allowed to see them,” the complaint states.

It also said that Mr. Okah’s wife has on several occasions been humiliated at the prison and prevented from seeing her husband, contrary to the orders of the court that she and other relatives be allowed access to see him. 
Furthermore, when the prison was fumigated last week, specifically on December 8 because a scorpion was found in Okah’s cell, he was made to remain in the cell during the process and fumigated over, while others were allowed out. 
They noted that each time they have complaint about the situation, the officers of Kuje Prisons have always said they are acting on instructions from above.
“We state that our clients are merely accused persons and not convicts, which means, their presumption of innocence guaranteed by the Constitution should be respected,” the petition stated.  “Therefore treating our clients in a manner that suggest that they have been condemned is illegal and unconstitutional.”
Alleged

BA, Virgin Atlantic’s $235m fine: Probe panel begins sitting

The Justice G. A. Oguntade-led panel set up by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to look into the legality and fairness of the $235 million fine slammed on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways over price-fixing commenced sitting yesterday in Lagos.
The panel, however, adjourned  further hearing till January 9, to allow all the parties in the case to file their respective briefs/appeals to its secretariat in Lagos.
Counsel to the airlines had said they were still expecting the NCAA to furnish them with more documents for their defence.
Speaking to newsmen after the adjournment, Justice Oguntade said the airlines were simply taking advantage of the laws in Nigeria to test the fairness or otherwise of the decisions taken against them by the NCAA.
According to him, the panel was set up to review the decision of the aviation regulatory body against the two British carriers.
Justice Oguntade said the panel would operate with open mind to listen to the parties and look at the veracity of the agency’s claims of fare racketeering.
He said:  “This is a panel to review some damages awarded against BA and Virgin Atlantic and the airlines concerned are taking advantage of the laws in Nigeria to test the correctiveness of the decision against them.
“There was a ruling against them and they are dissatisfied with the ruling and they came to the appeal panel to test the correctiveness of the decisions of the NCAA investigative committee.
“All we have to do is to examine the basis of the decision  to know whether they were in accordance with the law.”
At yesterday’s hearing, British Airways was represented by Uzoma Azikiwe, Dan Agbor and Gbenga Ojo, while some top officials of  the airline, including Mr. Tunji Seymour and Mrs. Adetutu Otuyalo, were also present.
Similarly, Virgin Atlantic Airways  had Afolabi Caxton-Martins, Funke Agbor and Ben Unaegbunam representing it at the panel sitting, just as its United Kingdom lawyers, John Mc Inneas, and West African representative, Chief John Adebanjo, also registered their appearances.
Other members of the panel include K.G.B. Oguakwa, Alhaji Bala Ibn NaAllah, and Callistus E. Uwakwe, a senior lawyer and author of Introduction to Civil Aviation Law in Nigeria, who is also the panel’s secretary.

Fashola’s war on education (2)

IF Gov. Fashola truly loves Lagos State let him leave a self-generative legacy. A legacy that will build the infrastructures of an enduring solution to the states problem. A legacy that will regenerate itself. That legacy is EDUCATION.
Plato goes further by saying: “If the citizens are well educated, they will readily see through the difficulties that beset them and meet emergencies as they arise”. He further believes that education is the positive means by which the ruler can shape human nature in the right direction to produce a harmonious state.
One of America’s most popular Presidents-John F. Kennedy once said: “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in Education”. Another great philosopher, Horace Mann, believes that: “A human being is not in any proper sense human till he is educated”. Peter Broughman also contends that “education makes people easy to lead but difficult to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave”.
Aristotle who was the most outstanding student of Plato also puts it very brutally thus: “Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead”. Aristotle believes that uneducated men are like dead men.
The present status quo concerning education in Lagos is to enslave Lagosians and make it possible for them to know only violence as their fundamental human right, as it is impossible to enslave the masses when they are educated.
The Lagos State government must know that such an astronomical increase in school fees will only keep the students at home and worsen the crime rate in the State. In the short term, Fashola will continue to win his elections with these uneducated masses but in the long run, they will make Lagos State ungovernable for the Governor through violence which is the only language they have been taught, tuition free.
How does Gov. Fashola expect a man on N 10,000.00 (ten Thousand naira only) per month to pay School fees of N348000.00 (for medical students) per session? Even most state goverments have not accepted to pay the slave wage of N18, 000.00 per month as advised by the Federal Government.
The Lagos State government has not told Lagosians the truth about its internally generated revenue, IGR. While the government puts this at N18, billion monthly, an unofficial source in Alausa puts it at over N60 billion. With the monthly Federal allocation of N6 billion, Lagos State Government official monthly revenue is estimated at N22 billion, while unofficial sources put total  revenue accruing to Lagos at about N66 billion.
This source also adds that revenue figures from the 2010 Fashola-introduced property tax are mind-boggling. Even let us assume that each property/house pays a conservative N3000, Lagosians should themselves calculate the billions from that sum.
Governor Fashola should be grateful to the society that educated him free of charge. It is, therefore, an unpardonable ingratitude and a heinous crime for him now to shoot and kill these same people who educated him, for depriving a people of education is tantamount to murder in line with Aristotle’s reasoning that “educated people are as much superior to uneducated people as the living are to the dead”.
In Lagos State, nothing is free. You will get the rudest shock of your life when you attempt to use a toilet at Alausa Secretariat or in any Lagos State designated office. I was once told at the Alausa Secretariat by a policeman after protesting the toilet fee: “My friend pay your money; you think say this na Freetown. Nothing is free here o!”.
The Governor must realise that the people are entitled to some social benefits from government like education, housing, water, good roads, etc. Now that education and housing are for the rich only, the Governor must resist pressure from above to do “Father Christmas” with Lagos State tax payers money by consolidating party positions in all states of the Federation.
The Governor must also realise that most Lagosians are unemployed, unempowered and poor. In Nigeria only government workers are billionaires because of unchecked corruption.
I am, therefore, specifically appealing to Gov. Fashola to declare tertiary institutions in Lagos State tuition free as I am convinced that Lagos State Government has enough funds to turn its only university into another Harvard, if the billions spent to expand the radius of its political party is downsized.
Mr. Thomas, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.

Ogun Police parade 6 Sagamu robbery suspects, 11 others

Ogun State police command yesterday paraded 17 suspected armed robbers including six members of the armed robbery gang that allegedly struck banks along Akarigbo road Sabo, Sagamu in  the state last month.
The state police Commissioner,Nicholas Nkedeme, told newsmen  in Abeokuta that, his men   have apprehended six  members of  the 35-man gang of  armed robbers that  unleashed terror in  Sagamu, on  November 24, where three people were killed.
According to Nkedeme, who also paraded other suspected murderers, kidnappers, impersonators and cultists, one of them,  Rasheed Ganiyu was said to be  in possession of one million, five hundred and fifty one thousand naira (N1,551,000) with his friend identified as  Tajudeen Alase by patrol team in Ogere.
The suspects, according to the police boss, were caught with  one Toyota Bus with inscription of Lagos State Polytechnic with number plate LA 65 A45, two empty magazines, one live G3 ammunition, one expended ammunition, one Toyota Sienna car with number plate LT 671 EKY and one kit that contained the  alleged stolen money.
Speaking with newsmen, one of the  robbery suspects, Rashhed Ganiyu denied involvement in the robbery attacks, claiming  he  was arrested in error.
He however confessed that, he was caught with a kit that contained the huge money with the wrappers with the inscription of some of the banks robbed in Sagamu, saying that, he saw the container somewhere and stole it, not knowing it was a stolen kit.
Also parading  two suspects for impersonation, Nkedeme said, the joint patrol team of the command and boarder patrol  team of Idi-Iroko intercepted an old Toyota Camry car with number plate DV 854 AAA driven by  Ogundare Olayiwola, who dressed in police uniform with the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, but, the logo on his shoulder  showed that, he was a fake officer and was promptly arrested.
The Police boss further disclosed that, another  impersonator identified as   Gabriel Olagbade  was arrested in Sango-Ota  during the recent transporters crisis, when he allegedly claimed to be a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
The command also  paraded one Joshua Fadebi, 18, for allegedly kidnapping two  school children in Ilaro  last week.
But, the suspect denied attempting to kidnap the children, saying, he was a commercial  motorcyclist, and that he  took the children near their school to their houses.
When asked where  he was taking them to, Joshua said,  he did not know the  children and did not know where they were going. He said that, he  had to take them to a  nearby police station before he was arrested.
The command also paraded one  Owolabi Kolade  for allegedly strangulating  his father to death in Bankole village,  in Oja-Odan Yewa North Local Government Area following a  disagreement.
And when the suspect was asked why he killed his father, Kolade denied killing his father, saying, he had a disagreement with his landlord that led to his death.

Jennifer Lopez Owns Britney And Beyonce Looks In ‘T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)’ Video

Apparently, the flesh-toned body suit Jennifer Lopez wore during her performance at the American Music Awards last month was a hit. The 42-year-old mother of toddler twins looks incredible suited up in a similar one piece, this one black and lace, for will.i.am's new video, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)," for which she sings the chorus.
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Despite will.i.am's spectacular special effects in the clip, the recently separated superstar rumored to be dating a much younger man steals the limelight. The Black Eyed Peas frontman catapults himself from a speeding bike, stands atop of a racing train, and flies a spaceship, but viewers will walk away remembering J. Lo.

In another sequence, Lopez flaunts stilettos, thigh-high stockings and a leotard.

These looks were first popularized by then twenty-something pop stars Britney Spears and Beyonce. Britney was strategically covered with diamonds in her "Toxic" video, and wore a two-piece nude bodysuit for the 2000 VMAs. The leotards Beyonce wore for her "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" video were just as popular as the anthemic song. But time will tell whether the ladies will be able to don the styles in 10 years when they are J. Lo's age.

Beyonce, Britney Spears

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The legendary Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, who appears in the third verse of the song and video, following J. Lo, gets lost in the mix. Jagger, the subject of Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," lives up this his reputation, but here J. Lo is simply too tough an act to follow.

will.i.am

"T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" is the first single from will.i.am's forthcoming solo album, "#willpower," due out in 2012.

The "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" video is not embedded in the blog because it includes inappropriate language.

iPhone 4S leads online smartphone buzz

Smartphones are predicted to be a popular present this holiday season, and of all the brands on the market Apple's latest offering, the iPhone 4S, is attracting the biggest internet buzz, according to a report released December 9 by Nielsen.

The report was conducted by Nielsen/McKinsey company NM Incite over the period from July to December. It measured the buzz surrounding different brands and models of smartphones by looking at mentions, messages and other posts on blogs, message boards, Twitter, Facebook and other online sources.
According to the report, buzz for the iPhone 4S began building in July; it overtook the previously "most buzzed" phone -- the iPhone 4 -- in August, and peaked in October, the month of its release. Since then levels of buzz have declined but the iPhone 4S still remains the most-buzzed-about smartphone across the internet.
Throughout the period July-December 2011 Apple's iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and 4S accounted for around 66 percent of all online smartphone mentions.
In comparison the generic category of "Android" smartphones accounted for 23 percent of mentions while RIM's Blackberry gained 10 percent of buzz.
Despite Android devices now accounting for, according to Nielsen, 43 percent of the US market, Apple devices are still expected to dominate smartphone sales this Christmas, with research firms such as Euromonitor predicting high sales volumes of Apple's iPhone 4S.